Kubla Khan
Kubla Khan
by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
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Kubla Khan Symbolism, Imagery & Wordplay

There’s more to a poem than meets the eye.

The River Alph

This big, dramatic river takes over most of the first half of the poem. Our speaker is a fan – he seems to be constantly drawn back to the river. Descriptions of the river largely focus on ho...

The Ocean

When it shows up in the poem, the ocean is a gloomy, mysterious and far-away place. Nothing in particular happens there, except that it marks the end of the river. It's a dead-end, a place where th...

Xanadu - a.k.a. The Pleasure Dome

This might sound a little more exciting than it really is. As far as we can tell, it just means a big, especially nice palace, with pretty gardens all around it. The dome is a safe, sunny, happy pl...

The Caverns

The caverns are huge, frightening, cold, and fascinating to our speaker. They appear in the poem for just a moment at first, as the place the river passes through. As things move along, however, we...

The Woman and Her Demon Lover

This one comes and goes fast, but it's a really powerful image. The line calls up feelings of supernatural power, romance and excitement. A waning moon and the spooky chasm all help set a scene tha...